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Computer Undergroud Digest Vol. 08 Issue 74
Computer underground Digest Sun Oct 20, 1996 Volume 8 : Issue 74
ISSN 1004-042X
Editor: Jim Thomas (cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu)
News Editor: Gordon Meyer (gmeyer@sun.soci.niu.edu)
Archivist: Brendan Kehoe
Shadow Master: Stanton McCandlish
Field Agent Extraordinaire: David Smith
Shadow-Archivists: Dan Carosone / Paul Southworth
Ralph Sims / Jyrki Kuoppala
Ian Dickinson
Cu Digest Homepage: http://www.soci.niu.edu/~cudigest
CONTENTS, #8.74 (Sun, Oct 20, 1996)
File 1--Class Action Notice in CCC BBS lawsuit
File 2--COMMUNITY CONNEXION SUED IN FRIVOLOUS LAWSUIT
File 3--FDA Net-regulations -- "Drug Lords" from HotWired
File 4--Another Point of view (in re: FLAMETHROWER Declan McCullagh)
File 5--1996-10-10 Background on Next Generation Internet
File 6--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 Apr, 1996)
CuD ADMINISTRATIVE, EDITORIAL, AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ApPEARS IN
THE CONCLUDING FILE AT THE END OF EACH ISSUE.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Sat, 19 Oct 1996 12:18:00 -0400
From: Pete Kennedy <PKENNEDY@gdf.com>
Subject: File 1--Class Action Notice in CCC BBS lawsuit
Editors -- I would appreciate it if you could include the following
notice in an upcoming edition of CUD. I believe this lawsuit is the
first of its kind -- a class action brought by users of a 5,500-user
BBS against the government officials who seized it in a pornography
raid on June 16, 1995. The Judge (at our suggestion) has ordered
that notice be distributed electronically, as there are some 500 plus
non-subscribers whose mail was seized from the BBS Internet gateway.
We have modelled this lawsuit after the Steve Jackson Games lawsuit
which I participated in back in 1993, but expanded it to a class
action on behalf of all users of the system.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Peter D. Kennedy George Donaldson & Ford, L.L.P.
pkennedy@gdf.com 114 West 7th Street, Suite 1000
(512) 495-1416 (voice) Austin, Texas 78701
(512) 499-0094 (fax) http://www.gdf.com
--------------------------------------------------------------
NOTICE OF CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT
TO: All persons who, on June 16, 1995, were users,
subscribers, or customers of the Cincinnati
Computer Connection electronic bulletin board
service, and all persons whose private electronic
communications were resident on the Cincinnati
Computer Connection BBS when it was seized by the
Defendants, but not including the actual provider
of that electronic bulletin board service or any
law enforcement agencies or personnel investigating
that electronic bulletin board service.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a lawsuit has been filed in this
court that may affect your legal rights. This case has been
certified by the Court as a class action. A class action is a
lawsuit in which one or more persons can sue on behalf of other
persons in the same or similar situation. If you are a person who
falls within the group of persons described above, you are a member
of the class that the named Plaintiffs represent. The Court has
ruled that the named Plaintiffs, Steven Guest, Denise Kelley, Ben
Kelley, Nelda Sturgill, Deborah Cummings, Randy Bowling and Richard
Kramer, may bring this lawsuit on behalf of all those persons
described in the group above.
YOU ARE NOT BEING SUED. THERE IS NO REQUIREMENT THAT YOU
ATTEND COURT, HIRE A LAWYER, OR PAY ANY OF THE COSTS OF
THIS LAWSUIT. IF YOU CHOOSE, HOWEVER, YOU MAY HIRE YOUR
OWN LAWYER, AND, IF YOU DO SO, YOU WILL BE RESPONSIBLE
FOR PAYING YOUR LAWYER'S FEES.
AS A MEMBER OF THE CLASS, YOU ARE HEREBY FURTHER GIVEN
NOTICE OF THE FOLLOWING MATTERS:
1. On December 5, 1995, the individual Plaintiffs, Steven
Guest, Denise Kelley, Ben Kelly, Nelda Sturgill, Deborah Cummings,
Randy Bowling and Richard Kramer, sought certification of this
lawsuit as a class action, against the following Defendants: Simon
L. Leis, Jr., Hamilton County (Ohio) Sheriff's Department, Hamilton
County (Ohio) Regional Electronics Computer Intelligence Task
Force, Dale Menkhaus, David Ausdenmoore, and James Nerlinger.
2. The named Plaintiffs have brought this action not only on
their own behalf, but on behalf of all the following group of
persons ("the Class"):
All persons who, on June 16, 1995, were users, subscribers, or
customers of the Cincinnati Computer Connection electronic
bulletin board service, and all persons whose private
electronic communications were resident on the Cincinnati
Computer Connection BBS when it was seized by the Defendants,
but not including the actual provider of that electronic
bulletin board service or any law enforcement agencies or
personnel investigating that electronic bulletin board
service.
3. The named Plaintiffs generally allege that the
Defendants' seizure, on June 16, 1995, of the Cincinnati Computer
Connection electronic bulletin board system violated the civil
rights of the subscribers and users of that system. This lawsuit
has been filed, alleging that the Defendants' seizure and retention
of the contents of the Cincinnati Computer Connection BBS violated
the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, the First
Amendment Privacy Protection Act of 1980, the First Amendment, the
Fourth Amendment, and Ohio law.
4. The Defendants have denied the Plaintiffs' allegations.
YOU ARE ADVISED THAT IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF THE CLASS, and
that if you do not wish to be considered a member of this class and
represented by the above-named Plaintiffs, you may be excluded from
this lawsuit by notifying the Court in this cause in writing of
that wish, within 60 days of the date of this Notice. If you wish
exclusion, you should send written correspondence notifying the
Court of your wish to be excluded from the lawsuit to:
Kenneth J. Murphy
Office of the District Clerk
United States District Court
Southern District of Ohio
100 E. Fifth Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
(513) 583-4210
Re: Guest, et al., v. Leis, et al., No. C-1-95-673; U.S.
District Court, Southern District of Ohio, Western
Division
If you are excluded from the class, you will not receive
payment from any settlement or judgment entered in this lawsuit.
You will not be bound by the terms of any settlement or judgment
entered in this lawsuit, and you will be free to pursue any legal
rights you may have on your own behalf.
YOU ARE FURTHER ADVISED THAT IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF THE CLASS
and you do not elect to be excluded from the class, under Ohio and
federal law:
1. You will be bound by the terms of the judgment in this
cause, whether such judgment is favorable or not.
2. You may be subjected to a cross complaint or some other
affirmative action by the Defendants.
3. Although this action is pending, the Defendants are not
prevented in any way from exercising all remedies available to them
by contract or law.
4. The named Plaintiffs and the Class in this lawsuit are
represented by:
Scott T. Greenwood
Greenwood & Associates
2301 Carew Tower
441 Vine Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
(513) 684-0101 (phone)
(513) 684-0077 (fax)
stgrnwd@iac.net (internet)
Peter D. Kennedy
George, Donaldson & Ford, L.L.P.
114 W. 7th Street, Suite 1000
Austin, Texas 78701
(512) 495-1400 (phone)
(512) 499-0094 (fax)
pkennedy@gdf.com (internet)
5. You may contact the attorneys for the Plaintiffs listed
above for further information concerning this action.
6. Be aware that the Court, by initially certifying this
lawsuit as a class action, has not expressed any option as to the
merits of this lawsuit.
SIGNED this 10th day of September, 1996.
_____________/S/____________________
JACK SHERMAN JR., UNITED STATES
MAGISTRATE JUDGE
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 14 Oct 1996 11:24:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: sameer@c2.net
Subject: File 2--COMMUNITY CONNEXION SUED IN FRIVOLOUS LAWSUIT
Fwd from: fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu
COMMUNITY CONNEXION SUED IN FRIVOLOUS LAWSUIT
For release: October 14, 1996
Contact: Sameer Parekh 510-986-8770
Oakland, CA - Community ConneXion, Inc, dba C2Net, condemns the
lawsuit served by Adobe Systems, Inc., Claris Corporation, and
Traveling Software, Inc. as a frivolous lawsuit. "As near as we can
tell," said C2Net President Sameer Parekh, "we are being sued for
being an Internet Service Provider."
C2Net is an ISP, providing shell accounts and web hosting
services. But the company is primarily a software vendor, selling
Stronghold, one of the most popular secure web servers on the
market. "We were looking into joining the Software Publisher's
Association, who filed the suit on behalf of the plaintiffs," said
Parekh, "but it's not very likely to happen at this point."
The lawsuit appears to charge C2Net with liability based upon
allegations that C2Net's customers provide links to pirated software
on other machines and "cracker tools" that allow users to beat
copy-protection mechanisms like software serial numbers.
"It's completely outrageous that the SPA has nothing better to do
than to file frivolous lawsuits against hard-working Internet Service
Providers," said Parekh. "We are not aware of any such links on our
pages or our customer's pages, and if our customers are breaking any
laws, we want to know about it so we can terminate their accounts."
(The lawsuit provides no specific examples.)
The lawsuit was apparently filed after a single attempt to contact the
company with a form-letter e-mail. The copy of the alleged e-mail
included as an attachment to the suit shows the SPA's real
motive. "They want us to sign a 'Code of Conduct'," said
Parekh. "Among other things, we'd have to agree to routinely monitor
our customer's web pages, which we won't do. We deal with complaints
about our customers on a case by case basis, and we have a firm and
clear policy against illegal activity of any sort. We've shut down
accounts for less than what they're alleging in this lawsuit."
"This is clearly a frivolous lawsuit," said Terry Gross, counsel for
C2Net. "The plaintiffs know that an ISP can only be liable if it
participates in and has knowledge of the improper activity, and it is
clear that they have no such basis."
Although the lawsuit does not mention the "Code of Conduct", it
appears that most ISPs who received the e-mail ended up signing it,
largely to avoid legal action from the much-feared SPA. Those that
didn't kowtow got sued.
"The terms of the 'Code of Conduct' are completely unacceptable," said
Parekh. "It basically gives the SPA the right to go on an ongoing
fishing expedition through our customer's files, and requires us to do
the same as their agent on a regular basis. The Code would classify
us as 'publishers', and we would become responsible for everything our
customers do. We've built this business on a solid foundation of
respect for our customer's privacy. Monitoring their activities
without grounds for suspicion is completely inconsistent with
maintaining their privacy."
"This lawsuit is grossly unfair, and it's going to cost us a lot of
time and money, but we don't have any choice but to fight it," said
Parekh. "What we have here is three giant software companies and their
well-funded bag of lawyers trying to bully a smaller software company
into adopting costly policies that invade customers' privacy."
A coalition is currently being formed to fight this case and make sure
that this form of legal terrorism does not occur in the future against
internet providers. The coalition will probably include the three companies
that have been served in the suit and other organizations with a stake
in creating a rational legal enviroment for ISPs and their customers.
C2Net provides high-security encryption solutions for the Internet
worldwide. More information about C2Net's products are available at
https://stronghold.c2.net/. Information about the forming coalition
may be found at https://www.c2.net/ispdc/.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 1996 05:20:19 -0700 (PDT)
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Subject: File 3--FDA Net-regulations -- "Drug Lords" from HotWired
From -- fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu
============================
http://www.netizen.com/netizen/96/42/global4a.html
HotWired
The Netizen
"Drug Lords"
Global Network
by Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com)
Washington, DC, 17 October
Forget the Communications Decency Act and the censor-happy
Clinton administration.
Instead, it now seems like we have to keep an eye on the pinstriped
bureaucrats at the US Food and Drug Administration, who are hatching
their own schemes to regulate the Net.
I just got back from the agency's two-day conference in the Maryland
suburbs, entitled "FDA and the Internet: Advertising and Promotion of
Medical Products." Discussions drifted from troublesome-to-the-Feds
notions of drug use in America Online chat rooms to emerging
international Net-regulatory agreements, but all the talk shared a
kind of benevolent paternalism.
Consumers can't be trusted to make their own choices. The Federal
government must protect us from reading what only doctors are allowed
to see. Netizens can't even be trusted to figure out when they're
leaving a Web site after they click on a link.
Drug industry representatives on the panel this morning appeared less
than overly concerned with regulatory threats to free speech. Jamie
Marks from Body Health Resources said: "It's very important that drug
companies police the sites they link to." The panel also discussed how
to prevent sites that celebrate or even talk about illicit drug use
from linking to sites operated by pharmaceutical companies.
Even search engines like AltaVista could be hit by FDA regulations.
Sara Stein from Stanford University noted, "Search engines have begun
to sell links ... that's another area of disclosure that's required."
Translation: the FDA is looking to have a say in how to label medical
advertisements on Web sites.
The FDA's also working the international angle. They brought in to the
conference speakers from France, Britain, Switzerland, Brazil, and the
Netherlands - all of whom were particularly interested in online drug
promotion, since US advertising laws are currently so permissive.
J. Idanpaan-Heikkila, the World Health Organization's director of drug
management and policies, said that real-world claims promoting
pharmaceuticals should be "in good taste," adding, "I think this is
applicable to the Internet."
Cedric Allenou, the French Embassy's health attache, predicted more
controls: "In France, as in the United States, there is a lack of
regulation on the Internet. But these issues will soon be discussed by
the French government." When asked what his country would do if a US
server distributes information banned in France, he replied: "If your
Web site is not in France, you're not under French rule. This is a
problem with French Internet regulation."
John Rothchild, an attorney from the Federal Trade Commission - which
will announce its own Net-regulation plan later this year - said:
"Based on some hasty research I did last night, I can report it is
feasible to control access to our Web site based on what country the
accesser is in.... I don't know the technical details, but according
to the technical people at the FTC, non-US domain names have a
two-letter suffix."
Rothchild apparently didn't realize that many companies outside the
United States have domain names ending in nothing but .com.
At the end of the two-day conference, meanwhile, the one question left
unanswered by attendees was not whether the FDA should regulate the
Net, but how long it will take them, and how far they'll go.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 14 Oct 1996 11:23:01 -0600
From: Jim Taylor <jtaylor@tcd.net>
Subject: File 4--Another Point of view (in re: FLAMETHROWER Declan McCullagh)
Jim Taylor (jtaylor@tcd.net)
Another Point of view on the message from
"FLAMETHROWER Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com)"
>Private businesses pose the more sinister threat to
>free expression on-line.
>Take America On-line (AOL), which now boasts over six million members.
>In a move akin to the paranoid antics of a kindergarten schoolmarm,
>AOL this summer started deleting messages posted in Spanish and
>Portuguese since its monitors can't understand them. Undercover AOL
>cops continue to yank accounts of mothers who talk about breast
>feeding and mention the word "nipple." The company's gapingly broad
>"terms of service" agreement allows it to boot anyone, anytime, for
>any reason.
To me I would interpret this as quit AOL, Compuserve, or any
on-line service that censors its customers. Join up with any of
the thousands of Internet Service Providers (ISP) that don't
censor, but just give you a standard SLIP or PPP type account.
>Don't forget net-filtering software. While busily touting itself as
>anti-censorship, CyberSitter quietly blocks the National Organization
>of Women and Queer Resources Directory web sites. CyberPatrol prevents
>teen pornhounds from investigating animal and gun rights pages -- and,
>inexplicably, the Electronic Frontier Foundation's censorship archive.
>NetNanny cuts off AIDS resources including the sci.med.aids and
>clari.tw.health.aids newsgroups. SurfWatch bans domestic partner web
>pages and Columbia University's award-winning "Health Education and
>Wellness" site.
Yes, this is correct, for those that are controlled under
net-filtering software. The majority of people affected are
children and employees at some company. Since all of the above
software come with a setable password, parents can set up what
sites they want their children to see. It is not static, and can
be setup with different degrees of restriction. Most companies
don't provide net access for employees to "surf", but to gather
pertinent information. It is the companies, or parents right to
control access to information. As for employees, they can AND
SHOULD get their own Internet accounts at home so they can see what
is in cyberspace, on their own time, and in a non censored way.
If we as netizens don't provide a way to control access to
children, the government will do it for us, or at least try real
hard, as they did with the Communications Decency Act (CDA).
>If [censorship] happens, netizens will find their rosy vision of the Net as
>the birthplace of a new form of democracy overwhelmed by the sad
>reality of a new media oligarchy aborning.
Yes I entirely agree, The net as a whole should be censor free, but
filters should be in place to protect, those that need it, ie
children. The same way I support Alcohol should be able to be
purchased by an Adult, but we put restrictions on children from
purchasing Alcohol, like it should be.
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 11 Oct 1996 14:04:44 -0500
From: Jerrold Zar <T80JHZ1@WPO.CSO.NIU.EDU>
Subject: File 5--1996-10-10 Background on Next Generation Internet
<snip>
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release October 10, 1996
BACKGROUND ON CLINTON-GORE ADMINISTRATION'S
NEXT-GENERATION INTERNET INITIATIVE
The Internet is the biggest change in human communications since
the printing press. Every day, this rapidly growing global network
touches the lives of millions of Americans. Students log in to the
Library of Congress or take virtual field trips to the Mayan ruins.
Entrepreneurs get the information they need to start a new business and
sell their products in overseas markets. Caregivers for people with
Alzheimer's Disease participate in an "extended family" on the
Cleveland FreeNet. Citizens keep tabs on the voting records and
accomplishments of their elected representatives.
We must invest today to create the foundation for the networks of
the 21st Century. Today's Internet is an outgrowth of decades of
federal investment in research networks such as the ARPANET and the
NSFNET. A small amount of federal seed money stimulated much greater
investment by industry and academia, and helped create a large and
rapidly growing market. Similarly, creative investments today will set
the stage for the networks of tomorrow that are even more powerful and
versatile than the current Internet. This initiative will foster
partnerships among academia, industry and government that will keep the
U.S. at the cutting-edge of information and communications technologies.
It will also accelerate the introduction of new multimedia services
available in our homes, schools, and businesses.
Economic benefits: The potential economic benefits of this
initiative are enormous. Because the Internet developed in the United
States first, American companies have a substantial lead in a variety of
information and communications markets. The explosion of the Internet
has generated economic growth, high-wage jobs, and a dramatic increase
in the number of high-tech start-ups. The Next Generation Internet
initiative will strengthen America's technological leadership, and
create new jobs and new market opportunities.
The Administration's "Next Generation Internet" initiative has
three goals:
1. Connect universities and national labs with high-speed
networks that are 100 - 1000 times faster than today's
Internet: These networks will connect at least 100
universities and national labs at speeds that are 100 times
faster than today's Internet, and a smaller number of
institutions at speeds that are 1,000 times faster. These
networks will eventually be able to transmit the contents of
the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in under a second.
2. Promote experimentation with the next generation of
networking technologies: For example, technologies are
emerging that could dramatically increase the capabilities
of the Internet to handle real-time services such as high
quality video-conferencing. There are a variety of research
challenges associated with increasing the number of Internet
users by a factor of 100 that this initiative will help
address. By serving as "testbeds", research networks can
help accelerate the introduction of new commercial services.
3. Demonstrate new applications that meet important national
goals and missions: Higher-speed, more advanced networks
will enable a new generation of applications that support
scientific research, national security, distance education,
environmental monitoring, and health care. Below are just a
few of the potential applications:
Health care: Doctors at university medical centers will use
large archives of radiology images to identify the patterns
and features associated with particular diseases. With
remote access to supercomputers, they will also be able to
improve the accuracy of mammographies by detecting subtle
changes in three-dimensional images.
National Security: A top priority for the Defense
Department is "dominant battlefield awareness," which will
give the United States military a significant advantage in
any armed conflict. This requires an ability to collect
information from large numbers of high-resolution sensors,
automatic processing of the data to support terrain and
target recognition, and real-time distribution of that data
to the warfighter. This will require orders of magnitude
more bandwidth than is currently commercially available.
Distance Education: Universities are now experimenting with
technologies such as two-way video to remote sites, VCR-like
replay of past classes, modeling and simulation,
collaborative environments, and online access to
instructional software. Distance education will improve the
ability of universities to serve working Americans who want
new skills, but who cannot attend a class at a fixed time
during the week.
Energy Research: Scientists and engineers across the
country will be able to work with each other and access
remote scientific facilities, as if they were in the same
building. "Collaboratories" that combine
video-conferencing, shared virtual work spaces, networked
scientific facilities, and databases will increase the
efficiency and effectiveness of our national research
enterprise.
Biomedical Research: Researchers will be able to solve
problems in large-scale DNA sequencing and gene
identification that were previously impossible, opening the
door to breakthroughs in curing human genetic diseases.
Environmental Monitoring: Researchers are constructing a
"virtual world" to model the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem, which
serves as a nursery area for many commercially important
species.
Manufacturing engineering: Virtual reality and modeling and
simulation can dramatically reduce the time required to
develop new products.
Funding: The Administration will fund this initiative by
allocating $100 million for R&D and research networks to develop
the Next Generation Internet. This increase in FY98 funding will
be offset by a reallocation of defense and domestic technology
funds. As with previous networking initiatives, the
Administration will work to ensure that this federal investment
will serve as a catalyst for additional investment by
universities and the private sector.
Implementation: The principal agencies involved in this
initiative are the National Science Foundation, the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Department of Energy,
NASA, and the National Institutes of Health. Other agencies may
be involved in promoting specific applications related to their
missions.
INTERNET TIMELINE
1969 Defense Department commissions ARPANET to promote
networking research.
1974 Bob Kahn and Vint Cerf publish paper which specifies
protocol for data networks.
1981 NSF provides seed money for CSNET (Computer Science
NETwork) to connect U.S. computer science departments.
1982 Defense Department establishes TCP/IP (Transmission
Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) as standard.
1984 Number of hosts (computers) connected to the Internet
breaks 1,000.
1986 NSFNET and 5 NSF-funded supercomputer centers created.
NSFNET backbone is 56 kilobits/second.
1989 Number of hosts breaks 100,000.
1991 NSF lifts restrictions on commercial use of the
Internet.
High Performance Computing Act, authored by
then-Senator Gore, is signed into law.
World Wide Web software released by CERN, the European
Laboratory for Particle Physics.
1993 President Clinton and Vice President Gore get e-mail
addresses.
Mosaic, a graphical "Web browser" developed at the
NSF-funded National Center for Supercomputing
Applications, is released. Traffic on the World Wide
Web explodes.
1994 White House goes on-line with "Welcome to the White
House."
1995 U.S. Internet traffic now carried by commercial
Internet service providers.
1996 Number of Internet hosts reaches 12.8 million.
President Clinton and Vice President Gore announce
"Next Generation Internet" initiative.
[Source: Hobbes' Internet Timeline, v. 2.5]
Business and University Leaders Endorse the Administration's
Next-Generation Internet Proposal
"Silicon Graphics applauds the current Administration for
recognizing the power and limitless value of the Internet. Their
forward-thinking Next Generation Internet initiative sets an
example by leadership that will encourage organizations, in both
public and private sectors, to fully leverage the Internet, and
to become a part of the Information Age."
Edward R. McCracken, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of
Silicon Graphics
"I include myself among the many who have encouraged judicious
Government sponsorship of research beyond the horizon of normal
product development. The Next Generation Internet initiative
builds on the foundation of earlier research sponsored by
far-sighted funding agencies seeking to solve real problems but
willing to take risks for the sake of high payoff. As in the
recent past, the results of this program will almost surely
trigger serendipitous discoveries and unlock billions of dollars
in corporate product/service development. With any reasonable
success, America will enter the 21st Century surfing a tidal wave
of new networking technology unleashed by the Next Generation
Internet."
Vinton G. Cerf, Senior Vice President of Data Architecture, MCI
"There is no question that the Internet would never have happened
without the leadership of the government and universities working
together. The Next Generation Internet will have an even bigger
impact on the world."
Eric Schmidt, Chief Technology Officer, Sun
The continued advance of computer networking technology is
fundamental to our nation's continued leadership in scientific
research. Just as higher education, in partnership with industry
and government, led in the development and realization of the
Internet, this effort will once again focus our best minds on
another significant advance in the use of network technology.
The result will not only strengthen our research capability, but
will also lead to innovations that provide broader access to
education.
Homer Neal, President, University of Michigan
"The promise of a new generation of networks that will enable
collaborative, multi-disciplinary research efforts is essential
to meeting national challenges in many disciplines, and to ensure
a continuing leadership role for the United States' academic
community. Higher Education welcomes the opportunity for a
renewed partnership with the federal government and industry to
develop the advanced network infrastructure upon which these
networking capabilities depend."
Graham Spanier, President, Pennsylvania State University
Qs and As on Next-Generation Internet Initiative
October 10, 1996
Q 1. Why does the government need to do this, given that the
commercial Internet industry is growing so explosively?
The U.S. research community and government agencies have
requirements that can not be met on today's public Internet or
with today's technology. For example, the Department of Defense
needs the ability to transmit large amounts of real-time imagery
data to military decision-makers to maintain "information
dominance." Scientists and engineers at universities and
national labs need reliable and secure access to remote
supercomputers, scientific facilities, and other researchers
interacting in virtual environments. The productivity of the
U.S. research community will be increased if they have access to
high-speed networks with advanced capabilities. These new
technologies will also help meet important national missions in
defense, energy, health and space.
An initiative of this nature would not be undertaken by the
private sector alone because the benefits can not be captured by
any one firm. The Administration believes that this initiative
will generate enormous benefits for the Nation as a whole. It
will accelerate the wide-spread availability of networked
multimedia services to our homes, schools and businesses, with
applications in areas such as community networking, life-long
learning, telecommuting, electronic commerce, and health care.
Q 2. What are some of the capabilities that the "Next Generation
Internet" will have that today's Internet does not?
Below are just of the few of the possibilities. Many new
applications will be developed by those using the Next Generation
Internet.
o An increased ability to handle real-time, multimedia
applications such as video-conferencing and "streams" of
audio and video -- very important for telemedicine and
distance education. Currently, the Internet can't make any
guarantees about the rate at which it will deliver data to a
given destination, making many real-time applications
difficult or impossible.
o Sufficient bandwidth to transfer and manipulate huge volumes
of data. Satellites and scientific instruments will soon
generate a terabyte (a trillion bytes) of information in a
single day. [The printed collection of the Library of
Congress is equivalent to 10 terabytes.]
o The ability to access remote supercomputers, construct a
"virtual" supercomputer from multiple networked
workstations, and interact in real-time with simulations of
tornadoes, ecosystems, new drugs, etc.
o The ability to collaborate with other scientists and
engineers in shared, virtual environments, including
reliable and secure remote use of scientific facilities.
Q 3. Is it still Administration policy that the "information
superhighway" will be built, owned, and operated by the private
sector?
Absolutely. The Administration does believe that it is
appropriate for the government to help fund R&D and research
networks, however.
Partnerships with industry and academia will ensure that the
results of government-funded research are widely available.
Q 4. Will this benefit all Americans, or just the research
community?
By being a smart and demanding customer, the federal
government and leading research universities will accelerate the
commercial availability of new products, services, and
technologies. New technologies have transitioned very rapidly
from the research community to private sector companies. For
example, Mosaic, the first graphical Web browser, was released by
the National Center for Supercomputing Applications 1993. By
1994, Netscape and other companies had formed to develop
commercial Web browsers. Today, millions of Americans use the
Web.
The public will also benefit from the economic growth and
job creation that will be generated from these new technologies,
the new opportunities for life-long learning, and research
breakthroughs in areas such as health.
Q 5. What will it do about "traffic jams" on the Internet, or
the ability of the Internet to continue its phenomenal rate of
growth?
The lion's share of the responsibility for dealing with this
problem lies with the private sector. Internet Service Providers
will have to invest in higher capacity, more reliable networks
to keep up with demand from their customers.
However, this initiative will help by investing in R&D,
creating testbeds, and serving as a first customer for many of
the technologies that will help the Internet grow and flourish.
One of the goals of the initiative is to identify and deploy
technologies that will help the Internet continue its exponential
rate of growth. Examples include:
o Ultra-fast, all-optical networks;
o Faster switches and routers;
o The ability to "reserve" bandwidth for real-time
applications;
o A new version of the Internet Protocol that will prevent a
shortage of Internet addresses;
o "Multicast" technology that conserves bandwidth by
disseminating data to multiple recipients at the same time;
o Software for replicating information throughout the
Internet, thereby reducing bottlenecks;
o Software for measuring network performance; and
o Software to assure reliability and security of information
transmitted over the Internet.
Q 6. How does this initiative relate to existing government
programs, such as the High Performance Computing and
Communications Initiative? Will this be a totally new network?
The initiative represents an increase in the HPCC budget.
The initiative will include both: (1) an expansion and
augmentation of existing research networks supported by NSF, the
Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, and NASA; (2)
new networks;and (3) development of applications by agencies
such as the National Institutes of Health.
Q 7. Are more technical details on the initiative available?
The Administration intends to consult broadly with the
research community, the private sector, and other stakeholders
before developing the final technical details for this
initiative.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 1996 22:51:01 CST
From: CuD Moderators <cudigest@sun.soci.niu.edu>
Subject: File 6--Cu Digest Header Info (unchanged since 7 Apr, 1996)
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End of Computer Underground Digest #8.74
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